AUGUSTA, Ga. (WJBF) – A mother and her son are now facing charges, after her 4-year-old son grabbed a gun and shot himself in the head.

“This right here breaks my heart, just to hear about a 4-year-old that probably thought it was a play gun and mistakenly shot themselves in the head,” said Rev. Anthony Walker.

According to warrants, 35-year-old Brittany Ryans and 19-year-old Ladarion Ryans were inside their home on the night of Nov. 12. Ladarion Ryans was heading for the door, but he left his firearm unsecured. That’s when authorities say the 4-year-old found it and pulled the trigger.  The child began “screaming excruciatingly and running to the accused about the incident”.

“This hurts my heart as well as the community’s heart, because a gun laying around unsecured is very dangerous,” added Walker.

Warrants say both defendants were in the living room when the incident happened. Brittany Ryans has been charged with cruelty to children in the second degree, and is currently at the Charles B. Webster Detention Center. 19-year-old Ladarion Ryans is still wanted, and is being considered armed and dangerous.

As for the victim, the 4-year-old was transferred to a local hospital, where he is currently in critical condition.

Walker says accidents like this are why there are foundations in the area promoting gun violence to stop. “We have the CSRA Community in Action and the Monroe Johnson Foundation. These are great foundations inside the Augusta area that’s fighting against crime. We’re coming together to stop the gun violence inside of our community, the guns, the careless shootings going on in our community,” said Walker.

Walker adds that they do what they do to ultimately raise awareness about the issue of gun violence, and preventing a situation like this from happening before it starts.

“We are trying to educate our community about the gun violence, it has to stop. We have had too many shootings in Augusta,” said Walker.